When the ever-enigmatic Robert Fripp called Pat Mastelotto about rejoining the new iteration of King Crimson, the drummer leapt at the opportunity — even though he knew very little about Fripp’s plans.
Mastelotto — a member of Crimson from 1994–2009 — says Fripp told him the size of the new lineup, but not the figures who might join him. There also was an open-ended time frame.
“He asked me to participate in the next King Crimson,” Mastelotto says in this KTU clip. “He told me there would be seven musicians — four English, three American, and that three would be drummers. I didn’t even know who all of the people were, but I said: ‘Of course, yes.’ I said: ‘Robert, do you really want to do this?’ And Robert said, yes. I said: ‘How long, Robert?’ And he said: ‘Well, until at least the end of the year, 2014. Possibly longer.'”
Only later did it become clear just who would be joining Mastelotto in this retooled edition of Fripp’s long-running prog amalgam: Mastelotto, Fripp, Tony Levin and Gavin Harrison from the group’s most recent working edition, back in 2009, along with Mel Collins, Jakko Jakszyk and Bill Rieflin.
Five players from this new seven-man crew — Collins, Fripp, Harrison, Levin and Jakszyk — took part in the 2011 project A Scarcity of Miracles. Rieflin participated in The Repercussions of Angelic Behavior dating to 1999. Mastelotto’s was last in the studio with King Crimson for 2003’s The Power to Believe, the most recent album issued under the official moniker.
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I can’t play the drums and I wouldn’t hesitate to accept an invitation from fripp to drum with the Crims. What’s to think about?